Farmington Secret Garden Open To Public In June

IRIS VAN RYNBACH

Farmington's famous secret garden will be open to the public in June.

A gem of a secret garden lies tucked away behind a wall on a scenic road in the village of Farmington. In 1954, Mary Smith, owner of a home built in 1769, commissioned Harvard-educated landscape architect Fletcher Steele to design a new garden for her. Steele created more than 700 gardens in the course of his long career, including the grounds of the Naumkeag estate in Stockbridge, Mass.

Steele stayed in an upstairs room at the Smiths' Farmington house while creating the garden. Smith gave Steele a free rein and a large budget, and she always had a shaker of martinis ready for him in the evenings. In some ways, it was a dream gig.

The private garden — which will be part of a garden tour in June — has many distinctive features, including 14 still-working fountains framed by carved brownstone rams' heads. The garden was designed with three parterre levels of different plantings and, in the back section, a decorative stage. The paths are lined with volcanic tufa stone, large worn millstones create entrance steps, and coal borders the garden beds as a decorative element. Pink gravel lines the walkway paths, and the surrounding walls are created out of local brownstone. The fountains were cast in Boston, and the tufa stone was shipped from Ohio to Connecticut.

Certainly not your usual suburban backyard garden.

Since 2000, the house and garden have been owned by Dr. Pauline Olsen. Cyril, her Irish nephew (he wishes to go by his first name), helps maintains the garden.

To an avid gardener like Cyril, it comes naturally.

"I've always loved gardening. In Ireland we always had a garden. Originally, the garden here cost a ton of money."

Still, it took some time to get it up to speed.

"Because of storms and aging, we have had to take down some large trees and the garden now gets more sun; our plantings have brighter colors than years ago. We have our own microclimate because the garden is so sheltered."